The Nationalist Party said it is prepared to take the government to court over the way many households continue paying inflated water and electricity bills. 

The government is not prepared to hand back the money it stole from the public, the Nationalist Party charged on Saturday.

Consumers are arguing that utility bills being calculated once every two months as opposed to yearly or half-yearly would lead them to miss out on tariff brackets from one period to another.

In a statement, the PN said that while the government stressed it was prepared to take action against pastizzi sellers, it was not ready to compensate the money it had been "stealing" for more than three years through utility bills. 

Many households continue paying higher tariffs than stipulated at law and yet the government has done nothing to rectify the matter, PN deputy leader David Agius said. 

The PN said it had received around 1,000 water and electricity bills from families, 80 per cent of which were overcharged.

A new Nationalist government would give back to consumers the money they had been overcharged, the party pledged.